Who's party.....

[BillyStubbsTears]

Watching that chance of Hanlan's in the first half again on the highlights. The criticism of him for that is way over the top.

As Bailey came forward, Hanlan took up a good position between the defenders.

He started one run, anticipating a through ball, but it didn't come.

He then, quickly, checked, stayed just onside, but in doing so, had to stop dead.

He then anticipated the ball being played and started a second run.

But the ball didn't come and so he had to check again to stay onside.

When the ball finally came from Bailey, it was well placed, into space, but 3-4 yards to the left of Hanlan and relatively slow.

Hanlan had to accelerate from a standing start to get onto the ball, while simultaneously having to time his approach so that he'd meet the ball with his left foot ready to shoot.

That meant he had to chop his stride rather than go flat out.

Meanwhile the full back, already starting at a sprint, could simply go flat out for the block, which he timed well.

The scale of criticism Hanlan is getting for that is deranged. He demonstrated intelligent positioning, and he's hardly to blame for twice anticipating balls that didn't come. It was sheer bad luck that when the ball did come, he was having to start from standing, and the position and speed of the ball gave the defender time to make up the ground. It would have been impossible for Hanlan to get a shot off any quicker than he was about to do before the ball was nicked away.

To hear and read some of the vitriol he's getting, you'd think our "fans" were all Jimmy Greaveses and Hanlan was a raffle winner.

[Usher wide.]

Let’s hope we get a ‘proper striker’ in the next day or two then we can stop all this nonsense about Hanlan’s sumptuous (sumptuous!) play & ‘He just needs a run of games’.

He’s a Lg2 player at best & it’s a disgrace we didn’t sign better in the summer.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Let’s hope we get a ‘proper striker’ in the next day or two then we can stop all this nonsense about Hanlan’s sumptuous (sumptuous!) play & ‘He just needs a run of games’.

He’s a Lg2 player at best & it’s a disgrace we didn’t sign better in the summer.

Lord, you are fun.

Object example of how internet conversations go. Idiot misquoting someone so that he can confirm what he wants to be the case.

I DIDN'T say Hanlan's general play was sumptuous. I said the specific layoff to Bailey was.

It's not hard if you try a little bit.

[GazLaz]

I know I'm shouting at a brick wall, but the two best pieces of intelligent play in and around their box both came from Hanlan yesterday.

1) The touch that sent Bailey down the line for the cross that Clifton and Middleton both missed was sumptuous.

2) For our goal, he made an intelligent run to the near post, drew a defender across then stepped over the ball, knowing we had better options at the back post.

Is he the best we've ever had? Nope.

Is he the best option we currently have? By miles.

I get that we are in an era where most folk will never change their minds once made up. But equally, I will never, ever understand what someone gets out of going to watch THEIR team and doing f**k all but moan vociferously about one player for 90 minutes.

You have to wonder what psychological baggage they are carrying around. Although I preferred yesterday just to kindly suggest that they shut the f**k up moaning.

People feel the need to trot out extremes.

Hanlan's clearly not a bad player and caught unnecessary flak early in the season when he started 2 games and then wasn't given another proper chance for ages.

We're clearly better with him in the team than without atm, but need more options around him, that's the issue. I think we'd probably have more points in the bag than we have now if he'd played more between mid-August and the end of November.

Here are the minutes he played in L1 between the start of the season and Stevenage (a) on 22nd November (his first start since the second game of the season)...

64 (from start)
62 (from start)
13
14
0 (unused sub)
6
0 (unused sub)
0 (not in squad)
0 (not in squad)
22
15
45
0 (not in squad)
0 (not in squad)
12
32

Criminally underused (IMO) given he's the only striker that seems to somewhat fit our style of play, and very harshly written off having been given very limited opportunities to prove himself and get used to playing in a new team.

I said it at the time when people were vilifying him. He occupies defenders and if used correctly can be a threat. The one time we routinely played balls in behind to him in an orchestrated manor was Cardiff  and he caused them all sorts of trouble.

[Reg of the Rovers]

Hanlan would be good as part of a functioning team, he’s quick and strong, he’s direct and his goals this year have been good quality finishes most of which he’s had to do alone. Played in the right formation, with a partner and with decent service, and with chance to rest up as a sub, I think he’d be good. He’s not as good as Rob Street but he’s done nothing to deserve some of the grief he’s getting.

Our bad recruitment and retention unfortunately means we need to strengthen in every single position, which will probably mean choosing to accept weakness somewhere as we won’t be able to bring that number of good players in.

Luckily we’ll have the managers bang average son on the books, which will turn our season around I’m sure.

[scawsby steve]

The vitriol Hanlan's getting is clearly unfair, even though he was very poor yesterday.

However, the main reason for it is pretty obvious. If we don't sign a striker who can be as prolific as Rob Street, we're going down.

That's the situation, and it's no good trying to sugar coat it.

[turnbull for england]

As a slight aside of TS interesting ( to me anyway) how people watch football. I just like the game itself , but never the subtleties of it and would never in a million years have picked up on the runs , space , movement off the ball  others have  identified here. Ive watched far less cricket then  football, yet do enjoy learning that side of it , how space is created , wickets earned by giving runs away etc . For some reason football has never got me like that yet still.my favourite sport

[drfchound]

There is no wonder that Brandon was not quite with it against Bolton.
I’m just watching Corrie with the wife and it’s clear to me that his mind was elsewhere.
He is getting married.

[Usher wide.]

There is no wonder that Brandon was not quite with it against Bolton.
I’m just watching Corrie with the wife and it’s clear to me that his mind was elsewhere.
He is getting married.

Ah bless.

I take it all back then because marriage becomes more important than anything.

It didn’t stop Billy Sharp playing & scoring in the first game after he ‘lost’ Louis.

It’s very easy on forums such as these to call someone ‘an idiot’. I don’t have to misquote anyone as some would call it to give my opinion of what I see with my own eyes.

In essence you were implying that Hanlan was being ‘poorly judged’ & that he actually offered more than those who don’t have your ‘vision’ gives to the team.

I happen to disagree.

He can’t hold a ball up with his back to goal then lay it off to a player making an attacking movement (as Joe Ironside did time after time & as Billy did with his first touch of the ball when he came on).

His control when he receives the ball is non existent.

He has yet to show me he can win & direct a header to a teammate when it comes to him as Brown did for us.

He has one thing & one thing only going for him in my opinion. A burst of pace.

No good having that if that ‘trait’ brings you one goal in a dozen appearances.

My thoughts, my conjecture of the player. He doesn’t & will never ‘cut it’ in this division.

Crack on with your personal derogatory remarks Billy Stubbs Tears.

Water off a ducks back.

[drfchound]

There is no wonder that Brandon was not quite with it against Bolton.
I’m just watching Corrie with the wife and it’s clear to me that his mind was elsewhere.
He is getting married.

Ah bless.

I take it all back then because marriage becomes more important than anything.

It didn’t stop Billy Sharp playing & scoring in the first game after he ‘lost’ Louis.

It’s very easy on forums such as these to call someone ‘an idiot’. I don’t have to misquote anyone as some would call it to give my opinion of what I see with my own eyes.

In essence you were implying that Hanlan was being ‘poorly judged’ & that he actually offered more than those who don’t have your ‘vision’ gives to the team.

I happen to disagree.

He can’t hold a ball up with his back to goal then lay it off to a player making an attacking movement (as Joe Ironside did time after time & as Billy did with his first touch of the ball when he came on).

His control when he receives the ball is non existent.

He has yet to show me he can win & direct a header to a teammate when it comes to him as Brown did for us.

He has one thing & one thing only going for him in my opinion. A burst of pace.

No good having that if that ‘trait’ brings you one goal in a dozen appearances.

My thoughts, my conjecture of the player. He doesn’t & will never ‘cut it’ in this division.

Crack on with your personal derogatory remarks Billy Stubbs Tears.

Water off a ducks back.

Did you quote the right post before making your comment mate?

[dickos1]

The funniest bit was when he fell in a tackle in front of us in the West stand, ran down the wing, couldn't get past his man and passed it straight out backwards to give Bolton a throw in. Absolute garbage, the only headers he won (2 0r 3 times) were with the back of his head when their player headed it straight into him, when he jumps for a header his head tends to be down for some reason, no chance of connecting.

No resemblance at all to what really happened

[BillyStubbsTears]

Usher.

You were being an idiot in your deliberate misquoting of me.

You were looking for an argument and I gave you one.

For the record, I agree that Hanlan isn't good at holding up the ball with his back to goal. No argument there.

My grouse is with so called Rovers fans who delight in abusing our own players, and buttress that approach by utterly ignoring the positive attributes of a player that contradict what they want to believe.

Hanlan clearly doesn't have "a burst of pace" as his sole attribute.

Go watch the video of that chance in the first half yesterday and watch his intelligent positioning, pre-empting of when the pass should have come. Twice. And patience to go for it a third time, all while staying inches onside.

All I've heard from our "fans" is abuse of him for not scoring there. In truth, it says far more about them than it does if him.

[Usher wide.]

Usher.

You were being an idiot in your deliberate misquoting of me.

You were looking for an argument and I gave you one.

For the record, I agree that Hanlan isn't good at holding up the ball with his back to goal. No argument there.

My grouse is with so called Rovers fans who delight in abusing our own players, and buttress that approach by utterly ignoring the positive attributes of a player that contradict what they want to believe.

Hanlan clearly doesn't have "a burst of pace" as his sole attribute.

Go watch the video of that chance in the first half yesterday and watch his intelligent positioning, pre-empting of when the pass should have come. Twice. And patience to go for it a third time, all while staying inches onside.

All I've heard from our "fans" is abuse of him for not scoring there. In truth, it says far more about them than it does if him.

I don’t ‘delight’ in abusing Rovers players & have never shouted negative comments at them while they’re playing & never would.

I also don’t use social media.

This forum is where you’re supposed to be able to ‘vent your spleen’ if you so wish.

You give him far, far too much credit for his positioning when that chance was put on a plate for him in the first half. Everyone around me were exasperated because he didn’t hit it first time as any decent striker would have done.

He doesn’t chase & press defenders like Billy does. He has no physicality about him despite being a ‘big unit’ certainly a damn sight bigger than Joe Ironside who could probably still teach him how to shield a ball with his back to goal before laying it off.

The run he went on in the second half when he found the ball had gone through the defenders legs & suddenly he had a yard on two of them what does he do? He doesn’t run at goal (with his electrifying pace) he goes into the corner, stops & turns back then lays the ball off…..into touch.

In 274 league appearances he’s scored 62 goals. You like your stats, suck on those.

[DRFC_AjA]

Usher.

You were being an idiot in your deliberate misquoting of me.

You were looking for an argument and I gave you one.

For the record, I agree that Hanlan isn't good at holding up the ball with his back to goal. No argument there.

My grouse is with so called Rovers fans who delight in abusing our own players, and buttress that approach by utterly ignoring the positive attributes of a player that contradict what they want to believe.

Hanlan clearly doesn't have "a burst of pace" as his sole attribute.

Go watch the video of that chance in the first half yesterday and watch his intelligent positioning, pre-empting of when the pass should have come. Twice. And patience to go for it a third time, all while staying inches onside.

All I've heard from our "fans" is abuse of him for not scoring there. In truth, it says far more about them than it does if him.

I don’t ‘delight’ in abusing Rovers players & have never shouted negative comments at them while they’re playing & never would.

I also don’t use social media.

This forum is where you’re supposed to be able to ‘vent your spleen’ if you so wish.

You give him far, far too much credit for his positioning when that chance was put on a plate for him in the first half. Everyone around me were exasperated because he didn’t hit it first time as any decent striker would have done.

He doesn’t chase & press defenders like Billy does. He has no physicality about him despite being a ‘big unit’ certainly a damn sight bigger than Joe Ironside who could probably still teach him how to shield a ball with his back to goal before laying it off.

The run he went on in the second half when he found the ball had gone through the defenders legs & suddenly he had a yard on two of them what does he do? He doesn’t run at goal (with his electrifying pace) he goes into the corner, stops & turns back then lays the ball off…..into touch.

In 274 league appearances he’s scored 62 goals. You like your stats, suck on those.

Exactly and well said. Simply offering an alternative opinion and viewpoint on a player isn't delighting in negativity or the other rubbish that certain posters say. Certain posters just want to divide and cause arguments and they're happy now they've achieved that as that's how they put a smile on their face

[GazLaz]

Usher.

You were being an idiot in your deliberate misquoting of me.

You were looking for an argument and I gave you one.

For the record, I agree that Hanlan isn't good at holding up the ball with his back to goal. No argument there.

My grouse is with so called Rovers fans who delight in abusing our own players, and buttress that approach by utterly ignoring the positive attributes of a player that contradict what they want to believe.

Hanlan clearly doesn't have "a burst of pace" as his sole attribute.

Go watch the video of that chance in the first half yesterday and watch his intelligent positioning, pre-empting of when the pass should have come. Twice. And patience to go for it a third time, all while staying inches onside.

All I've heard from our "fans" is abuse of him for not scoring there. In truth, it says far more about them than it does if him.

I don’t ‘delight’ in abusing Rovers players & have never shouted negative comments at them while they’re playing & never would.

I also don’t use social media.

This forum is where you’re supposed to be able to ‘vent your spleen’ if you so wish.

You give him far, far too much credit for his positioning when that chance was put on a plate for him in the first half. Everyone around me were exasperated because he didn’t hit it first time as any decent striker would have done.

He doesn’t chase & press defenders like Billy does. He has no physicality about him despite being a ‘big unit’ certainly a damn sight bigger than Joe Ironside who could probably still teach him how to shield a ball with his back to goal before laying it off.

The run he went on in the second half when he found the ball had gone through the defenders legs & suddenly he had a yard on two of them what does he do? He doesn’t run at goal (with his electrifying pace) he goes into the corner, stops & turns back then lays the ball off…..into touch.

In 274 league appearances he’s scored 62 goals. You like your stats, suck on those.

Hanlan wins the ball back in the final third slightly more often than Sharp. Very similar in that area.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Usher.

You were being an idiot in your deliberate misquoting of me.

You were looking for an argument and I gave you one.

For the record, I agree that Hanlan isn't good at holding up the ball with his back to goal. No argument there.

My grouse is with so called Rovers fans who delight in abusing our own players, and buttress that approach by utterly ignoring the positive attributes of a player that contradict what they want to believe.

Hanlan clearly doesn't have "a burst of pace" as his sole attribute.

Go watch the video of that chance in the first half yesterday and watch his intelligent positioning, pre-empting of when the pass should have come. Twice. And patience to go for it a third time, all while staying inches onside.

All I've heard from our "fans" is abuse of him for not scoring there. In truth, it says far more about them than it does if him.

I don’t ‘delight’ in abusing Rovers players & have never shouted negative comments at them while they’re playing & never would.

I also don’t use social media.

This forum is where you’re supposed to be able to ‘vent your spleen’ if you so wish.

You give him far, far too much credit for his positioning when that chance was put on a plate for him in the first half. Everyone around me were exasperated because he didn’t hit it first time as any decent striker would have done.

He doesn’t chase & press defenders like Billy does. He has no physicality about him despite being a ‘big unit’ certainly a damn sight bigger than Joe Ironside who could probably still teach him how to shield a ball with his back to goal before laying it off.

The run he went on in the second half when he found the ball had gone through the defenders legs & suddenly he had a yard on two of them what does he do? He doesn’t run at goal (with his electrifying pace) he goes into the corner, stops & turns back then lays the ball off…..into touch.

In 274 league appearances he’s scored 62 goals. You like your stats, suck on those.

Go watch the highlights. Carefully. Tell me how Hanlan was supposed to have hit the ball earlier than he was about to.

I get that this place is about venting spleen. It works both ways. If someone's criticism doesn't mean with the facts, they should expect to be told so.

I appreciate that you don't shout abuse at matches. Unfortunately, many do, and I have the misfortune to sit near a couple of prime examples of such gobshites. So when I see the same uninformed criticisms of Hanlan in here, dressed up in deliberate, argumentative misquoting of me, I'm going to explain what I think of your opinion in blunt terms.

I'm the first to see Hanlan's limitations. What I don't understand is people rushing in to scream about errors he didn't make, and belittle the good stuff he did.

[Usher wide.]

I don’t scream.

You’re a striker, the ball comes to you around the penalty spot, you have a keeper in the centre of the goal & a defender right on your shoulder. Those were the circumstances as I saw them more or less in a straight line of sight on the day. You have to hit the ball first time (which he absolutely had the opportunity to do) because you don’t have the space or time to take a touch.

You can tell me all day long (you having mulled over the the lead up to his missed opportunity for hours on end….frame by frame?) about his stupendous movement before the opportunity arrived at his feet bur arrived it did & he fluffed his lines….again.

Please feel free to come back to me once you’ve watched it over again.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I don’t scream.

You’re a striker, the ball comes to you around the penalty spot, you have a keeper in the centre of the goal & a defender right on your shoulder. Those were the circumstances as I saw them more or less in a straight line of sight on the day. You have to hit the ball first time (which he absolutely had the opportunity to do) because you don’t have the space or time to take a touch.

You can tell me all day long (you having mulled over the the lead up to his missed opportunity for hours on end….frame by frame?) about his stupendous movement before the opportunity arrived at his feet bur arrived it did & he fluffed his lines….again.

Please feel free to come back to me once you’ve watched it over again.

He was going to hit the ball first time. He got to the ball as quickly as he could, from a standing start. He didn't "take a touch". He didn't have a chance to shoot earlier and pass it up. The issue was that, with Hanlan starting from a stationary position because he'd twice checked runs anticipating earlier balls from Bailey, the defender was just able to get to the ball quicker than he could.

Go watch the video. If you are relying on your memory of the day, your memory is wrong.

[dickos1]

A striker in form and confident hits that first time with his left foot into the far corner.
He dithered but what was obvious to me was he thought he was clean through so there was obviously no communication from bailey or anyone else telling him about the defender

[BillyStubbsTears]

He didn't either. He approached the ball in a way that his intended shot was the first time he could have shot. The previous step when his left leg went forward, the ball was a yard to his left and he would have had to be Inspector Gadget to fashion a shot from there.

The through ball was also very slow. So if Hanlan had sprinted full on, he'd have over run it. He had to take a half check stride to make sure he approached the ball such that he'd get a clean left foot strike. That looked like a "dither" but there was literally no option if he was going to hit it with his left.

The only option would have been to toe end it with his right foot, a stride earlier. And I can imagine the reaction if he'd done that and not scored...

[richtherover]

My God, some people. Imagine what this forum would be like if our strike force was Prince Moncrieff and Adie Mike. Short memories.

[jmt23]

As always on this and other social media outlets, it’s all about balance.
Hanlan wasn’t at his best, is he as poor as some make out - nowhere near! Is he the best in the league, nope. Is he good enough for the level, absolutely.
It’s always so black and white on here.

[ncRover]

Hanlan is a decent rotation option who is having to play more than he should because we offered Billy Sharp a sentimental contract. But yeah everyone get riled up at Brandon.

[dickos1]

He didn't either. He approached the ball in a way that his intended shot was the first time he could have shot. The previous step when his left leg went forward, the ball was a yard to his left and he would have had to be Inspector Gadget to fashion a shot from there.

The through ball was also very slow. So if Hanlan had sprinted full on, he'd have over run it. He had to take a half check stride to make sure he approached the ball such that he'd get a clean left foot strike. That looked like a "dither" but there was literally no option if he was going to hit it with his left.

The only option would have been to toe end it with his right foot, a stride earlier. And I can imagine the reaction if he'd done that and not scored...

I like hanlan, but for sure he should’ve done better with that chance.
He let the ball run acrosss his body trying to get it on his right foot, if he’d moved towards the ball and struck it with his left the defender would’ve got nowhere near him.

[TonySoprano]

This obsession BST has with hanlan is becoming very strange, hes not gonna kiss you pal!

Let's be honest, hes absolute shite and nowhere near the level we need.
We need a player as good as Tolaj, Wooton, Ballard or keillor-dunn.
Hanlan looks a competition winner next to those.

[Spud]

This obsession BST has with hanlan is becoming very strange, hes not gonna kiss you pal!

Let's be honest, hes absolute shite and nowhere near the level we need.
We need a player as good as Tolaj, Wooton, Ballard or keillor-dunn.
Hanlan looks a competition winner next to those.

Absolute shite? You don't half talk some.

[StocksArmy]

All about opinions but, I have to agree I think he’s really poor. Not a strikers instinctive bone in his arsenal, the chance in question being a prime example. His first touch for a professional footballer is appalling and on the rare occasion when he does control it he has no idea how to use his body and strength to hold it up and bring others into play. Not easy when we rarely get players close to him admittedly.

He’s miles better at running towards goal and the goals he has scored he has taken very well but, that doesn’t make him a good striker. We wouldn’t be looking in the market if he was.

 He’s very much another Theo Robinson type player and I guarantee we either move him on before or we don’t renew his contract when it’s up. He will then drop down the leagues. His record at 28 and with a bad injury also on his CV it’s beggars belief that we recruited him to be our main striker.

To me and again only my opinion but this is what’s really got on my nerves in recent years, you hear representatives of the club come out and say a lot of positive things about how we are run and that we go through an extensive recruitment process yet we continue to waste wages on those not good enough to operate at where we as a club want to get to. To date Hanlans record and performances with us have been everything we expected it to be when he first signed. The recruitment team are just doing their job very badly let’s face it.

[dickos1]

All about opinions but, I have to agree I think he’s really poor. Not a strikers instinctive bone in his arsenal, the chance in question being a prime example. His first touch for a professional footballer is appalling and on the rare occasion when he does control it he has no idea how to use his body and strength to hold it up and bring others into play. Not easy when we rarely get players close to him admittedly.

He’s miles better at running towards goal and the goals he has scored he has taken very well but, that doesn’t make him a good striker. We wouldn’t be looking in the market if he was.

 He’s very much another Theo Robinson type player and I guarantee we either move him on before or we don’t renew his contract when it’s up. He will then drop down the leagues. His record at 28 and with a bad injury also on his CV it’s beggars belief that we recruited him to be our main striker.

To me and again only my opinion but this is what’s really got on my nerves in recent years, you hear representatives of the club come out and say a lot of positive things about how we are run and that we go through an extensive recruitment process yet we continue to waste wages on those not good enough to operate at where we as a club want to get to. To date Hanlans record and performances with us have been everything we expected it to be when he first signed. The recruitment team are just doing their job very badly let’s face it.

Under McCann we’ve made some poor signings granted, as do every club!
But we’ve made some very good ones too
Bailey,
Craig,
Adelakun,
Street,
Bailey,
Sterry,
Nixon,
Broadbent,
Senior,
McGrath,
Ironside,
Sharman Lowe,

[StocksArmy]

All about opinions but, I have to agree I think he’s really poor. Not a strikers instinctive bone in his arsenal, the chance in question being a prime example. His first touch for a professional footballer is appalling and on the rare occasion when he does control it he has no idea how to use his body and strength to hold it up and bring others into play. Not easy when we rarely get players close to him admittedly.

He’s miles better at running towards goal and the goals he has scored he has taken very well but, that doesn’t make him a good striker. We wouldn’t be looking in the market if he was.

 He’s very much another Theo Robinson type player and I guarantee we either move him on before or we don’t renew his contract when it’s up. He will then drop down the leagues. His record at 28 and with a bad injury also on his CV it’s beggars belief that we recruited him to be our main striker.

To me and again only my opinion but this is what’s really got on my nerves in recent years, you hear representatives of the club come out and say a lot of positive things about how we are run and that we go through an extensive recruitment process yet we continue to waste wages on those not good enough to operate at where we as a club want to get to. To date Hanlans record and performances with us have been everything we expected it to be when he first signed. The recruitment team are just doing their job very badly let’s face it.

Under McCann we’ve made some poor signings granted, as do every club!
But we’ve made some very good ones too
Bailey,
Craig,
Adelakun,
Street,
Bailey,
Sterry,
Nixon,
Broadbent,
Senior,
McGrath,
Ironside,
Sharman Lo

Depends what you class as good signings in my opinion. Good enough for promotion last season or good enough to be comfortable in League One which remains to be seen. I don’t agree or disagree with you. My post was more based on another poor striker on a decent contract.

[BillyStubbsTears]

He didn't either. He approached the ball in a way that his intended shot was the first time he could have shot. The previous step when his left leg went forward, the ball was a yard to his left and he would have had to be Inspector Gadget to fashion a shot from there.

The through ball was also very slow. So if Hanlan had sprinted full on, he'd have over run it. He had to take a half check stride to make sure he approached the ball such that he'd get a clean left foot strike. That looked like a "dither" but there was literally no option if he was going to hit it with his left.

The only option would have been to toe end it with his right foot, a stride earlier. And I can imagine the reaction if he'd done that and not scored...

I like hanlan, but for sure he should’ve done better with that chance.
He let the ball run acrosss his body trying to get it on his right foot, if he’d moved towards the ball and struck it with his left the defender would’ve got nowhere near him.

Have you watched the video? If you have, I'm totally at a loss as to how you can conclude that.